Bacon Sundae Boosts BK's Quality Perception

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Burger King's new summer menu of barbecue offerings and a much-talked-about bacon sundae dessert, which debuted in the U.S. on June 14, initially seemed to have little impact on consumer perception.

But over the past two weeks, the chain has had a significant run up in its quality perception with fast-food eaters.

In fact, the summer menu addition coincides with the chain's highest quality perception level with diners for 2012, which was attained on June 25th, according to YouGov BrandIndex, an organization that tracks public perception of thousands of brands across the world each day.

On the day it introduced its summer menu, Burger King's quality score with diners was 24. The score sagged over the next two days down to 20, but jumped sharply following that, reaching 58 on June 25. It currently sits at 51.

Meanwhile, quick-serve competitors KFC and McDonald's also saw quality perception improvements. KFC, while not as big of an increase as Burger King, has a higher score than the latter, likely thanks to the introduction of a promotion that gives consumers two extra sides with an order of a 10-piece or more meal.

KFC entered June with relatively higher quality scores than Burger King, coming in at 35 on the summer menu launch. Five days after staying at that level, KFC has shot up to 57, six points ahead of Burger King.

McDonald's also seems to have risen during the same time frame: jumping from 14 to 21 in quality score in two weeks, though still well behind both Burger King and KFC.

Each of the three brands was measured with YouGov BrandIndex's Quality score, which asks respondents: "Do you think the brand represents good or poor quality?" Results were filtered for adults over 18 who have eaten fast food in the past month.

YouGov BrandIndex scores range from 100 to -100 and are compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A score of zero means equal positive and negative feedback.